UCLA graduates on campus with the Bruin Bear. (Photo: Michael Gordon, via Shutterstock)OPINION: At a time when the United States is seeking to expand economic opportunity and address social inequities, Californians should vigorously support an institution that does both: our public colleges and universities.
An illustration of the modern workforce. (Photo: Shutterstock)When I was a member of the electrical engineering faculty at the University of Michigan in the early 1990’s, I will never forget what the head of our department would invariably say to me whenever I stayed in the lab to work late. “Why are you still here,” he wanted to know. “Don’t you have a family to go home to?” From equal pay for equal work to access to health care and a host of other issues, it should be obvious to any thinking person that we don’t have the level playing field valued by so many Americans.